Football Poets

It was close and yet so far
Manchester United,
World beaters renowned
Throughout the globe
And serial trophy winners
Of some prestige
Respected on every continent
But on Saturday evening
United were almost sent to
Coventry. It could have been
The truth undoubtedly
Deprived of their second
Consecutive FA Cup Final
Against their noisy
Mancunian neighbours
By the skin of their teeth
How agonising was the
Proximity between
The departure gate
At Wembley
And another argy bargy
Altercation, bicker
And quarrel
With that lot
Over the garden fence
City, the feuding foes
For well over two
Centuries
When Newton Heath
Was but a child in shorts
While City was alive
With ringing, resounding bells
At Maine Road
On Saturday though
Manchester United thought
They’d been dumped unceremoniously
Through the trap door
After a six goal nailbiter
Come pulsating cliffhanger
At Wembley
A man called Torp
Must have been convinced
That he had given
The Sky Blues
Their passport to an
FA Cup Final
But in the twinkling of an eye
The fairy story became
A horror show
It couldn’t have been offside
But it was
Coventry denied at the final kick
Fate can be so fickle
Football can be so heartless
Savagely cruel
Coventry punched in the ribs
When memories of 1987
And victory against Spurs
Were beckoning them back
To another crack at
FA Cup Final victory
Sadly, painfully not to be
Football’s demoralising
See saws of fortune and
Misfortune
And all because of the
English alphabet
VAR, yes that old chestnut
Lines, graphics,
Football dictated by
Parts of the human anatomy
How much longer can this
Potty charade be allowed
To go on?
And just to rub salt
Into the wound
No FA Cup replays
Next season
What will the FA
Think of in their
Mad myopia?
Are they trying to
Kill off the game’s
Most beloved treasure?
No vision, no foresight
Still it’s
Manchester United and City
At the same time
Same place
As last year
How many times have
We played that precious
Piece of vinyl
On the turntable?
History repeats itself
How tedious and predictable
Probably the same result
Repetition we love it
Or maybe not
Shades of 31 years ago
When the Gunners
Saw off Wednesday
Sheffield that is
On Thursday
Preceded by springtime
Gambollings on League Cup
Final duty
But the two Manchesters
Collide yet again
The Salford derby
Well, almost
In the ditto FA Cup Final
As a neutral
You’re inclined to go
For United’s revenge
If only to stop
The City express
But this is
Just beyond exasperation
Who cares?
It’s just football
May the best team to win